Comments for:

Use Your PCI Cards With The New Mac Pro27-Jun-1315 Comments...Comments are closed while we transition to DisqusNewPComming Said...

Wanna use PCI-e cards?

Don't buy a Mac anymore.

Its that simple.

I've research what the new Mac Pro is capable of and its not that mind blowing as I thought it would be, in fact for audio its a step backwards in most scenarios.

Get ready for some really cool computers in a rack soon. Much more powerful and useful for the audio community.

To be continued...

27-Jun-13 06:20 AM

Pow Said...

...cost effective ??? I don't know what they understand about that. One slot PCIe to thunderbold for 480$. The quater of the price of an Mac Pro for one PCIe. Amazing...

27-Jun-13 06:38 AM

GTRman Said...

Time to move onto better, faster things. PCIe is history. This is technology and it changes every day so get use to it and change with it or be left behind. The new Macpro is a big step into the future and I cannot wait to use it in my studio.

27-Jun-13 08:30 AM

xyzzy Said...

... or, as Rich Hilton calls them "Magma Boxes of Air".

27-Jun-13 09:28 AM

Phogey Said...

Well lets not be too hasty, I for one have several K$ of PCI boards that work perfectly well for the job they were intended for, It would cost a fair bit to replace them all with thunderbolt equivalents - presuming they actually exist - which they dont in all cases. Its a shame that the Magma chasis is so pricey though, $400 for a three slot would be resonable (IMHO)

The current generation Thunderbolt only has the bandwidth of x4 PCIe 1.0, and Thunderbolt 2.0 will only have the bandwidth of x4 PCIe 2.0.

In a PCIe 3.0 world, that equates to a measly 2 lanes.

A full PCIe 3.0 slot contains 16 lanes.

The only advantage to Thunderbolt in this market is its external expansibility. Daisy chaining is just a tradeoff, because it reduces bandwidth even Further.

PCIe cards shouldn't be used with Thunderbolt PCIe chassis unless you want to suffer from a significant I/O bottleneck.

27-Jun-13 10:32 AM

The Future is Now Said...

No one knows the bench marks for these new machines yet, nor what the price point will be.

Audio has always been second fiddle to video, we are a comparatively small market. These machines are clearly geared toward the video market, I bet they run final cut just great.

The need for DSP cards is waning too. You can crunch an awful lot of audio plugins on an iMac these days, a Mini even. What's the DSP card for? Copy protection? Devs will have to go native or disappear.

Firewire and USB can already do plenty of audio streams. Thunderbolt is for really high channel counts.

27-Jun-13 11:02 AM

Johan Bex Said...

I've got to be careful not to empty the wrong trashcan at the end of the week!

28-Jun-13 05:01 AM

ES Said...

Why wouldn't someone who uses PCIe cards want a way to keep using them with their new system? For some people, especially audio, video, and graphics pros, paying a little more for a computer that works beautifully and is virus-free is a good deal. If all I needed to do is game and run accounting software, I'd buy a PC. Really.

28-Jun-13 08:33 AM

What is Apple Thinking? Said...

$1000 for a 3 slot Magma box of air http://www.magma.com/expressbox-3t

28-Jun-13 04:28 PM

Said...

Why wouldn't someone who uses floppy disks want to use them with their new system?

29-Jun-13 02:17 PM

Maxtek Said...

turning easy into difficult through pointless

30-Jun-13 01:36 AM

DSC Said...

Where do the cassette tapes go?

14-Jul-13 12:17 AM

Chuck Said...

We have five Mac Pros that connect to a SAN via Fiber Channel. They only way to connect the new Mac Pros to the SAN is...Fiber Channel. That is one reason why this break-out box is necessary for some users. We have to have FC to connect to our SAN. What other options are there?

19-Jul-13 01:56 PM

Farley Said...

Butt ugly airboxes! At least conform to the Mac Pro design aesthetic in some imaginative way. Helps us over buyer remorse- lol.